


These Times

by Ravenclaw_333



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle, Blood, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fights, Galra Empire, M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Battle, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 22:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14121984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenclaw_333/pseuds/Ravenclaw_333
Summary: It was silent for a moment as the group got off the planet and towards the ship. “Allura, we need a pod five minutes ago.” Shiro spoke quickly and a little shaky.





	These Times

The day started out normally. 

Lance and Keith had woken up in each other’s arms. Lance on his side with both arms wrapped around Keith’s upper body and Keith with one arm folded under a pillow while the other gently holds one of Lance’s hands. Which is followed by Lance kissing brief good morning kisses all over the side of Keith’s face.

“Will you stop it, Lance! Your morning breath stinks and I woke up way before you did.” Shoving Lance’s face away from his, Keith managed to escape to their bathroom to wash up for the day. Lance pouted like a child with his face buried in a pillow, before joining Keith in the bathroom to start his morning routine.

“Oh, yeah, then why didn’t you get up or wake me up. It’s not like you haven’t before.” Lance says nudging Keith’s who’s brushing his teeth.

“Maybe I wanted to enjoy the last few minutes of silence, before you started talking.” Keith smirks at Lance through the mirror and lifts his head with pride when he sees Lance angrily pout at him.

“You wound me Kogane! I thought you loved me.” Lance holds his hand over his heart and dramatically backs away to the wall before sliding down onto the floor. “How will I ever recover from this broken heart, after my gorgeous lover ripped it from my chest and threw it on the ground.”

After finishing, Keith looks at him unamused and sees that Lance put his hand dramatically over his face, before crouching in front of him. “Easy. Your “gorgeous lover” will just have to pick it up and throw it in the trash.” Then walks out of the bathroom to change with a smile on his face and a look of horror on Lance’s.

“First off, rude.” Lance says before turning away from Keith and finishes in the bathroom before going back in their bedroom to change. “Second, rude.” Keith just looks up from putting on his shoes from the bed then looks back down after shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

Lance changes into his everyday clothes and shoes, facing away from Keith but is suddenly hit in the back by Keith’s warm body and arms around his chest, stopping his shirt from going all the way down. “You know I love you, right?” Keith puts his chin on Lance’s shoulder and tilts it a little to look into his eyes, waiting for a response.

Quickly turning around to face him, Lance wraps his arms under Keith’s armpits and gives him a quick peck. “Keithy peithy poo, of course I do.”

The nickname did not amuse Keith, who looked at him with no emotion. “What the hell, Lance?” Lance did nothing but widely smile at him before Keith untangled from their embrace and walked to get his jacket from a hook.

“Aw, Keith come on! Don’t be like that, we were having a bonding moment…I was cradling you in my arms.” Keith turned back and threw his jacket straight into Lance’s face before stomping over to pick it up and hit it with him again. “Babe, stop, I was only kidding.” To stop his abuse, Lance grabbed Keith off the ground and began to kiss all over his face, earning laughs from the other.

Lance and Keith’s laughter filled the room before they decided to head to the kitchen for some food, talking about nothing and everything on the way.

As they were nearing the kitchen, voices of the other members were heard. “I guess everyone beat us here, again.” Lance whispered to Keith, who looked at him with a half-smile and a shake of his head.

They were greeted by Hunk and Pidge, who seemed to just get their food and were working on Pidge’s laptop, and Shiro who’s plate was almost empty. “Good morning guys, what’s on the menu? Goo? Who knew?” Lance sarcastically said ask the couple sat down and filled their plates. 

“Yeah, sorry about that, I decided to sleep in a little.” Hunk said from his spot next to Lance.

“No worries.” Lance looked around the table and saw that Coran, Allura, and Shiro were in the middle of a discussion.

“Sorry we’re late, hope we didn’t miss anything important.” Keith says looking at the three curiously.

Shiro turns to Lance. “Actually, we were just discussing about a planet that needs to be saved from some Galra. There was a call an hour ago and we are on our way to it now.” Shiro gets up from the table and moves to Allura’s side so everyone can see him. “Pidge says she’ll be able to disconnect all connections from Galra ships away from the planet, so all we need is for Keith and Hunk to watch her back.”

“What about me, Shiro?” Lance asks, pointing at himself.

“I was just about to tell you, Lance.” Shiro crosses him arms and looks at Lance. “Lance, since the planet is mostly water I need you in Blue to watch underwater, along with my lion who will be invisible, to protect them from the outside.”

Lance looks over at the three of them and crosses his arms over his chest and leans into the back of the chair. “That’s right lady and gentlemen, Lancey Lance has got your back.”

Keith pushes him gently on the shoulder, as he gets up from the table. “My hero, how would we ever have managed without you.”

Oh, the sarcasm.

Lance looks at Keith with a full smile before turning his attention finish his breakfast. “Babe, you wound me.”

**-TWO HOURS LATER-**

Lance, Hunk, and Keith are all in Blue, so they can get to the planet. Hunk and Keith are talking over the intercom to Pidge, going over the plan, while Lance and Shiro quietly listen. Shortly after they are on the planet and Pidge activates Shiro’s invisible mode, while Lance waits for Keith and Hunk to leave before going underwater.

Keith and Lance wait for Hunk to leave, before they say good luck. They stand at the entrance/exit and hold each other tightly. “You come back you here me? I still need you to stich my heart back in my chest.” Lance hears Keith quietly laugh in his ear, before they pull back.

Lance grabs Keith’s face in his hands, while Keith holds onto his wrist, and share a slow and tender kiss to savor the moment. “I love you, Lance.”

“I love you, Keith.” They share a quick kiss before Keith leaves and walks down the ramp.

He shouts at Hunk and Pidge to stay safe, which earns him a wave from both of them.

Lance watches as Hunk, Pidge, and Keith disappear through a tunnel and goes back to his seat before diving underwater.

“It’ll be okay, Lance. They always come back.” Shiro tells him over the intercom, to only the two of them.

“I know, I just feel as though something will happen, like on Ja’foo. I mean, they got to that tunnel without any guards blocking their way.”

Shiro hesitate before he speaks. “Don’t worry, I can see anything from here.”

Lance knows that Shiro is just trying to help but he couldn’t shake that feeling.

He couldn’t risk any of them getting hurt like he did on Ja’foo. He could still feel one sword go through his shoulder and another in his stomach as a laser beam shot though his hand, as Keith’s horrified screams filled his ear drums. Everyone thought he was a goner for sure, but Keith never gave up and carried Lance back to a lion.

Lance had been the only one to ever come close to death, that day.

The scars that appeared after were just constant reminders of how close he was to death and he never wanted that for any of his teammate, even though they have their fair share. But he always had to be the hero and jeopardize his own life, pissing off Keith in the process.

He shakes off the feeling and turns on the screen that shows Pidge’s view of their mission and hopes that nothing goes wrong.

**-30 MINUTES LATER-**

Hunk, Pidge, and Keith were in a cave that had water dripping from the top and down the sides. There were new looking doors that opened with a code, that Pidge immediately got opened, and faint purple lights lining the walls.

The kept close to the walls in the shadows, trying there best to keep from being seen. Pidge was behind Keith and in front of Hunk directing their way.

Nobody was talking. All Keith had to do was listen for any soldiers and turn to Pidge for directions.

Keith felt uneasy when they didn’t come across a solider, he knew something had to be up but kept walking anyway. They had to do this mission and save the planet.

They turned another left and their destination was in front of them, another door with another code. Keith put his ear to the door to try and listen for any talking but heard nothing. He gave Pidge and Hunk a wary look, which was reflexed back, before slowly nodding for Pidge to open the door.

The room was empty, not a Galra in sight, so they took their opportunity and went straight to the computer, so Pidge could work. Keith’s eyes never left the door, as Hunk decided to help Pidge work faster. Minutes passed before Pidge and Hunk finished the task, and they ran the hell out of there.

“Shiro, we are on our way back. Is the entrance clear of Galra?” Keith spoke in a whisper, as they ran.

“All clear, good job guys. Lance, stay in the water until I tell you.”

“Yeah. You guys just make sure you get back safely, that was too easy.” Lance closely watches Pidge’s screen, wishing that he were watching it from Shiro’s view.

As the trio pick up their pace, they saw light outside the cave and Keith turned his head briefly to the other two. “Let’s get the hell out of here!” When he faced back to their exit, he saw that top of it begin to close. “It’s a door! The Galra know we’re here, I knew this mission was suspicious.”

At the same time as the door began to close, Shiro began to shout. “They’re coming! Keith, Hunk, Pidge, I will meet you at the entrance. Lance, I need you to watch my back.”

Gun shots were heard as Galra ships began to shoot at the lions. Lance burst out of the water to the sky and immediately fired back, but Lance only got so long without getting hit.  

“These ships are moving too fast for me to hit, Shiro I can use some help.” Shiro faced away from the cave but stayed on the ground and began to fire back. It helped Lance get out of the way but decided to stay away from the cave, so the other three paladins stayed out of harms way.

“Lance, what are you doing?”

“I have to stay away from the cave, so Keith, Hunk, and Pidge don’t get hurt.” Too frustrated to argue, Shiro just grunted and returned his full attention to the Galra ships above. 

“Shiro, we’re coming o-“ Keith was cut off by a Galra solider suddenly throwing him against the wall. He looked around to see where they came from and saw that there was a trapped door to their right that had dozens of Galra soldiers running out of.

Hunk and Pidge immediately begin to shoot at the soldiers, give Keith time to stand up and get his bayard ready. Hunk turned to him after bringing down two Galra soldiers. “All we need to do is get past them, we shouldn’t take all them out now, they’ll just keep coming.”

Keith looks at their exit to see that it was too late to run out. “Shiro or Lance can one of you try and open the door? We can’t get out.”

Outside, Lance was taking most of the hits, resulting in being thrown from his chair a couple times and cut starting to bleed from this temple and eyebrow. “On it now, you guys.” Lance goes as fast as he could towards the door, while blasting it.

Nothing was happening, and Lance panicked for a moment, thinking of what would happen if he couldn’t get the door open. “Shit, shit, shit!” He tried repeatedly but nothing was happening.

“Lance calm down, let me try.” 

“NO! I have to get them out, they could die!”

“Lance, panicking is not going to do anything.” Shiro says just as frustrated as Lance was.

“Lance, listen to Shiro, please.” Keith’s frantic but calm voice suddenly came through the intercom of Blue. “We’re not in too much trou-“ Keith’s voice suddenly stopped and Hunk and Pidge’s alarmed yelling replaced it.

“Keith! What happened?” Hunk and Pidge began to talk rapidly, making it hard to understand. “Hunk? Pidge? What the hell happened?” Every bad though filled Lance’s mind as the image of Keith’s lifeless body swam in his blood from his chest. Lance tried to pull of the camera that Pidge had on her but nothing came up, so he kept on yelling as he shot the door with everything he had.

“Somebody answer me, please!” Tears made its way down Lance’s face. “What happened to Keith, got dammit!”

“He got shot in the stomach. Blood everywhere. Need to get out now.” Pidge gave a brief explanation that did nothing to ease Lance’s mind. “Hunk fighting Galra. I’m helping Keith.”

Lance began to yell just as the door began to melt. “Get away from the door now!” He heard Hunk and Pidge quickly tell each other how to move Keith and gave a response that they were clear.

Then the door was open.

“I’ll get them Lance, stay in your lion and protect.” Lance looked at Shiro’s lion to see that the mouth was open.

Lance decided not to argue with Shiro and protected them, blasting dozens of Galra ships down in the moments until Shiro told them that they were safe and to leave.

It was silent for a moment as the group got off the planet and towards the ship. “Allura, we need a pod five minutes ago.” Shiro spoke quickly and a little shaky.

When they made it back to the ship, Lance ran out of Blue and to the other’s, but slowed for a moment when he saw all the blood on Pidge’s armor. There was dried and wet blood soaking the center of her armor, her arms up to her elbow was no longer white, and her thighs matched her arms. She was looking down at the ground with her eyes wide open. Shiro made his way to her and held her close to his chest. “It’s okay Pidge, you did all you could in that moment.”

Lance quickly turned his gaze to Hunk and Keith slowly coming down, thinking that Keith was dead. Hunk’s armor matched Pidge’s red one but had blood dripping down his arms to the floor.

“Oh, god.” Keith was so pale in Hunk’s arms when they came out of Shiro’s lion, all he wanted to do was grab Keith and hold him. There was so much blood.

Hunk glanced at Lance for only a moment as he came down but took off in a run. “No time to stop, Lance, we have to run.” It took Lance a second to hear what Hunk said.

Keith was still alive, right now.

The second they make it to the pod, Coran helps Hunk place Keith in with his armor. That’s when Lance sees just how bad the injury is. The area was so small and seemed to have ripped a little from the blood that was pouring out.

When the pod was sealed, Lance took a huge breath in and hoped that Keith will be all right and that he came out alive.

He looked over at Coran who was pressing quickly some buttons on the pod. “The wound seemed to not have hit anything important, but Keith did lose a lot of blood. It should take about a week for him to heal.” Coran steps away from the pod and touches Lance’s shoulder for comfort before leaving him in silence.

All Lance could do was watch the blood stop and fall on his knees, broken.

**-FOUR DAYS LATER-**

The room was mostly silent, with the occasional turning of a page and the constant humming of the healing pod.

Lance was sitting in a chair, that he took from the kitchen, reading a book that he wasn’t really paying attention to. His mind was always drifting to Keith and what would have happened if he died, if they never got him back in time.

After Keith was put in the pod, he stood there for about an hour before he moved and decided to change, after the others wouldn’t leave him alone. But he can back with a pillow and blanket, knowing that he would not be able to leave Keith.

The other’s left him alone, after Lance kept yelling at them, but only returned to bring food and the occasional book from Hunk and Pidge. He only left to shower, knowing that he wouldn’t be useful to Keith is he got sick from not showering. He had been like that for four days.

Today, Lance decided to read but wasn’t getting very far and decided to put it down after an hour. After placing the book down, he looked at Keith in front of him. His color came back to him and the blood seemed to disappear from his armor.

All he wanted to do was see those dark eyes look back at him and see that smile radiate as he spoke. He stayed silent in these moments, not wanting to talk, knowing that if he spoke tears would come out after.

He had a nightmare the first two nights of Keith dying in his arms, as blood came out like a river running downstream. Hunk had heard him the first time and Allura the other, but he stayed silent as they stayed with him till he was able to sleep again.

“-too talk to him, Shiro. He need to understand that this is not healthy for him.” It was Hunk.

“I know but would you leave him? We just need him to leave him be for now.”

Lance was already looking at the door when Hunk and Shiro entered but looked away when the door closed. “If you guys were trying to whisper, you failed horribly.” Hunk walked to him with a plate of goo in his hand before leaving with a sad look on his face.

Shiro sat down next to him and looked at Keith. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but you have to, Lance.” Lance just scoffed at him but stayed silent. “Keith seems to be fine now, just take an hour or tw-“

“Keith’s ‘fine now’? Does he look fine to you, Shiro? Was he fine before he alone got killed?” Lance screamed at him and threw his goo across the room before getting up to stand in from of Keith. “You have NO idea how much I wish he were fine, dammit!” He placed a hand on the pod and placed his head on it, crying.

“I know how much you loved him, Lance, but you need to-“

Lance cuts him off and turns his head to look angrily at Shiro. “Loved? He’s not dead, Shiro!” 

“You need to understand that being here is not good for your health.” Shiro looks him in the eyes. “We all miss him and we all understand what you’re going through.” Lance just looks at him and slides down the pod to sit against it.

“He never left me, so I’m not leaving him.” Shiro just looked at him with his arms closed before rubbing between his eyes and sitting down on Lance’s chair.

              Shiro changed the subject, knowing that he won’t get Lance to change his mind. “Can you at least let me clean your cuts?” Lance totally forgot about them. They are no doubt going to scar.

              “I cleaned them in the shower.”

              “But did you put on ointment, so they don’t scar?” Shiro knows the answer is the moment Lance looks away. “I’ll go get the stuff.”

              A few moment later, Lance was sitting across from Shiro on the floor having Altean ointment dabbed on his temple and eyebrow. They did not talk, and Lance kept his eyes angled to the side.

When got up after he finished, the sound of the pod opening filled the quiet room.

Lance was in front of the pod in a second, ready to catch Keith, as Shiro quickly called everyone in the room.

 “Keith, oh, Keith.” Lance whispered in his ear as he finally got to hold him. “I got you, I got you.”

Colder arms wrapped around Lance’s neck and a sigh escaped Keith’s lips. “Lance?”

“I’m here, Keith, and I’m not leaving.” Happy tears were coming down Lance’s face as he held Keith. “God, I love you so much, you have no idea.” He could feel Keith smile against on his shoulder.

“I love you, more then you will ever know.”

They stayed like that till they heard everyone come in and run to them, but they knew better than to interrupt their moment, so they went into a group hug.

“Glad you’re back, Keith.” Hunk practically yelled from the outer circle.

Lance and Keith separated for a moment, giving everyone a chance to hug and tell Keith they ere glad he was all right.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again!” Pidge quietly said into Keith’s chest.

Keith took a step back, after getting a hug from everyone, to look back at Lance. “Thanks guys, I think Lance and I can take it from here.” Lance grabbed his hand and nodded to everyone who decided to leave the couple alone.

When everyone was gone, Lance brought Keith back into his arms and held him there hoping that this wasn’t a dream.

After a moment, Keith pulled back a little to look at Lance in the eyes before placing a hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry, I know how much you worried.” Lance just leaned against his hand and Keith knew that he was right.

“Kiss me?”

That is exactly what they did.

Keith brought his other hand to rest just below Lance’s jaw, as they closed the gap between and kiss each other like it was the first time. As they kissed, Lance brought one hand behind Keith’s neck to pull them closer. The kiss seemed to only last for a moment before they pulled away and brought each other back in for an embrace.

“I love you, Keith”

“I love you, Lance.”

They didn’t say anything anymore, all they wanted to do was hold each other and listen to the faint sound of their matching heartbeats beating against their chests. Keith faced Lance’s neck, as Lance leaned his head on Keith’s. And before they knew it, they were slowly swaying in the quiet. Another slow and sweet kiss was shared, before they looked into each other’s eye and got lost in them.

Everything around them faded into nothing because they knew from that moment on they were safe, and they were home.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this. 
> 
> Please feel free to leave me a comment about how you felt or if you would like to read more.
> 
> I am open for suggestions if you guys want me to write anything.


End file.
